The Perfect Ocean
by seriouslyshippers
Summary: Jace Herondale has an affinity for the ocean. He has grown up and lived his life right on the coast. What happens when Jace's neighbors sell their house? Follow Jace's adventure as he adapts to his new fiery red haired neighbor and follow Clary's life as she gets used to her new life on the coast.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey readers! I have been inactive for so long I'm soooooooo sorry, I've had school, basketball, and I'm in the musical Grease right now, so I'm balancing homework and practices for sports and Grease. I'm super excited to ease myself back into writing. I shouldn't be too rusty because I just finished taking a semester writing class, but no promises *laughy face emoji* Onto the story...**

 **Clary**

As we pulled away from my house one last time, I glanced behind me to catch one last glimpse of my home. I couldn't believe my mom had actually sold our house. Our home. I had lived at 1230 Rose Anna Street since the day I was brought home from the hospital. Now, my home is gone. Technically not truly gone, but I would never return back and it would never be the same. My mom had sold our home because she was chasing her teenage dream of living by the ocean. She had snatched me away from my school, art club, and my job at Starbucks so we could have a "fresh start" she claimed.

I plopped my head against the head rest and started to unwind my orange ear buds.

"Wait, Clary, before you tune us out we need to tell you something," my stepdad, Luke, said excitedly.

I looked up at him in the driver seat, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"When we get to Stoneybrooke, we will have a surprise waiting for you!" my mom exclaimed with a smile on her face.

I could tell they were trying to bribe me to be happy. It wasn't going to work. Most people would be ecstatic to move to the coast. Not me. Being a pale, freckled, red head doesn't exactly agree with being exposed to harsh sunlight. The humidity was going to do a number on my thick, curly hair, too. I hated change. Change usually meant good-bye and I wasn't ready to say good-bye to my life here in Russel's Point.

"You know how I love surprises," I said with sarcasm dripping off every word.

My mom thrust her phone in my face and all I saw was a picture of a black puppy.

"You got us a dog?" I said with a hint of doubt in my voice.

"Yup!" squealed my mom as she turned to face the front again.

I had been wishing for a dog since I was 5, putting it on my Christmas list every year and being disappointed every year. My mom and Luke were really sucking up to me if they were getting us a dog. They really wanted me to be happy in Stoneybrooke. As I put in my earbuds, I promised myself to at least try to have an open mind about Stoneybrooke. I started day dreaming about Stoneybrooke as my music blared in my ears and got comfortable to prepare for the seven hour drive to my new home.

 **Jace**

"ALEC, HURRY UP THE WAVES ARE PERFECT TODAY," I shouted upstairs.

Alec trudged down the stairs with half of his hair sticking straight up.

"Jace, how many times have I told you to not wake me up this early on the weekends," Alec said with an exasperated sigh, "Some of us actually have to sleep in on the weekends because we don't sleep in class every day."

I smirked and shrugged as Alec shuffled into the kitchen.

"I'll get the boards ready while you're eating," I said to him as I walked the front door. Our boards were leaning against our shed and I grabbed both mine and Alec's.

I had lived by the ocean almost my entire life with my adoptive family, the Lightwoods. My stepsiblings, Alec, Isabelle, and Max and their parents, Maryse and Robert, had adopted me when I was four years old. I had lived in the beach house since then. The Lightwoods taught me everything from learning how to surf to making s'mores around the fire. I considered them my real family, although I kept my real last name, Herondale.

I grabbed a rag that was sitting on the front porch and started washing the sand and scuff marks off the boards. I was sitting on the porch steps with my feet in the sand. The sand was already starting to get scorching hot so I dug my feet under the top layer of sand and wiggled my toes around in the cool sand.

Right as I finished, Alec burst through the front door and let it slam loudly behind him. He had grabbed us two water bottles and a tube of sunscreen. We lathered up with sunscreen and walked out towards the ocean with our boards. I like to dive right into the water while Alec liked to take his time and get used to it. I noisily splashed in and got my board wet, and Alec was still hip deep. I paddled out farther and sat on my surf board while waiting for Alec to come out. We usually paddled out to the section with no waves so we could chill on our boards for a little bit before actually surfing.

I laid on my back on my board and felt the sun soaking into my skin. _This,_ I thought, _is living the best life._ Nothing could compare to the feeling of laying serenely on my board while listening to the sound of the water swirling around and sun heating up my skin.

I was snapped out of my reverie when I heard Alec shout my name. I shot up and almost lost my balance, half of my body going in the water. I saw Alec gesturing me for come in so I started paddling back in, toward him. When I got closer he pointed to the big U-Haul truck parked right next to our house. I remember Maryse said something about new neighbors but I didn't know they would be here so soon.

"Should we go help them?" Alec asked.

"Well, as fun as that sounds, I'd have to go with a solid no," I told him shielding my eyes from the Sun, trying to get a better look.

Alec gave me a nasty look, "We should help them and introduce ourselves."

"Alec, it's a Saturday and these waves are perfect," I told him, gesturing out towards the water.

"Looks like we've already been beat to it," Alec said with a chuckle, "Mom and Dad are already out there helping and they're signaling for us.

"Ugh, I just wanted one perfect day to surf," I complained, whining like a little kid.

"There will be plenty of perfect days," Alec told me as he looked at me over his shoulder.

I knew he was right. It was the end of Spring and school was almost out for summer. That meant we could surf every day without interruption. I grudgingly trudged out of the water and followed Alec as we walked toward our new neighbors.

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! Hopefully I will be updating this soon and regularly. If it gets good feedback it will probably be updated more frequently. Have a great day!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey readers! Currently watching the Super Bowl with my fam and eating buffalo chicken dip :P Just FYI I probably won't update this story during the week because of my busy schedule. I would only update this week if we get a day off because of snow! Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it lovelies! ENJOY:) also: All characters belong to the ever brilliant, Cassandra Clare! (I use a book quote in this chapter;))**

 **Clary**

My mom shook me awake as we pulled into my new driveway in Stoneybrooke, North Carolina. My earbuds were still in my ears and they were starting to ache because the earbuds had been smashed in my ear. I groggily sat up and unbuckled my seat belt. The sun was blinding me through the window as I struggled to collect my stuff. My mom and Luke were already out of the car and unpacking by the time I opened the car door to get out of the car.

I staggered out of the car and stretched my arms above my head. I was on the opposite side of the truck than my parents were, and I heard voices that didn't sound like my mom's or Luke's.

"No, I've already told you that Trig test is on Wednesday, not Tuesday," I heard an unfamiliar voice say.

I looked around to try to find the source of the voice and I finally spotted them approaching the back of the car.

There were two boys. They looked to be about my age and they were both attractive. They hadn't seen me yet and were still engaged in their conversation. I awkwardly stood there before turning my back to them and grabbing a few of my bags out of the car.

As soon as I turned around with a few bags in my hand I ran right into one of the guys. Literally. My face was in his chest and I almost tripped over him but he grabbed me just in time.

"I'm sorry, you're so little I didn't even see you there," the guy said as he straightened me up. I took a step back and saw his face up close.

I had never seen anyone so physically flawless. He had perfect golden curls that framed his face perfectly. His eyes were a startling gold. The sunlight made them look like melted caramel, smooth and bright. He had a perfect body, and I could tell he was an athlete.

I was too caught up in looking at him that I barely registered his words. I finally caught on to what he said after an awkward pause.

"Don't talk to down me," I snapped at him.

He chuckled and said, "Well, I can hardly talk up to you. You're too short"

I glared at him and the other kid with midnight black hair and crystal blue eyes beside him shoved the golden boy out out of the way.

"I'm sorry about him," he said apologetically, "I'm Alec Lightwood, and this is my brother Jace Herondale," the guy, well, Alec said.

I was a little confused with the last name thing but I decided to just let it slide.

"My name is Clary Fray," I told Alec as he clumsily held out his hand.

I looked at Jace, "No offense, but you seem like an asshole," I said with a smirk on my face.

"Ah, I've been called worse and you don't seem like a ray of sunshine yourself," he lazily replied.

Alec chuckled and offered to take my bags from me and bring them inside the house. Jace started grabbing bags from the back and we all met inside with a loaded arms.

I hadn't even really looked at the house when I was outside because I was too busy with Alec and Jace. The house was beachfront. It was on the smaller side with a cute screened in front porch. We stacked the boxes on the wooden floor in the kitchen.

As Alec, Jace, and I were walking out of the house we ran into my mom and Luke and they were with two other people.

"Ah, I see you've met Jace and Alec," the woman said to me as she stuck out her hand. "I'm Maryse and this is my husband, Robert."

I smiled and shook both of their hands. "We are so excited to have new neighbors, our old neighbors were a little strange," Mayrse said as she gently set down a box on the floor.

"Well, hopefully we aren't as strange as the old neighbors," Luke said jokingly.

As the adults talked, I went back outside with Alec and Jace following me.

"You guys don't have to stay, we can unload the rest," I said to Alec and Jace because it was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Are you sure?" Alec asked.

"Of course she's sure, man, let's go back to the water," Jace said as he was already dragging away.

"Nice to meet you, Clary!" Alec shouted as he was being dragged away. Jace lifted up his hand as a farewell gesture. I turned back to the car and kept unloading the rest our things.

 **Jace**

Our new neighbor, Clary, was a little spitfire. She called me an asshole after I made just one comment about her height. She had to know she was short so I don't really know why she was so offended by it.

She was pretty. She had cute red curls that bounced when she walked. I liked that she stood up for herself and wasn't afraid to dish it back out at me. I had a feeling we could have some fun with her. I just had to get her to think I wasn't a complete asshole.

I had feeling her and Izzy would hit it off. They seemed like opposites, but opposites attract, right.

I had dragged Alec back to the water and we went out again. We were out there for hours, surfing or just screwing around. We hung out with our friends, Jon and Jordan and played football on the sand. I saw Clary standing outside once and was going to wave her over but she saw me and hurried back inside.

I didn't think anything of it and got back into the game with the guys.

After the game we were all sitting on our front porch, chugging water. Izzy strutted out with her heels on and stood in front of us.

Jon and Jordan's heads snapped up in attention, but I knew Izzy well enough to know that she would start talking even if I wasn't looking at her.

"So, I'm going to go introduce myself to this Clary girl, do you guys want to come with me?" she asked.

"Well, Alec and I have already met her, but we can go with you and introduce her to Jon and Jordan, too," I said, looking for an excuse to talk to her again.

Izzy nodded and started walking to Clary's house as we stood up and followed her. I didn't want to overwhelm Clary by introducing her to so many people at once, but I figured she would meet them all sooner or later.

Izzy knocked on the front door, but no one answered. I peeked around the house and noticed there was no car in the driveway.

"They probably went out for dinner," I told everyone as I showed them the empty driveway.

We shuffled back to my house, and all of us except for Izzy, went downstairs to play Xbox.

"We'll go over and introduce you guys to Clary tomorrow," Alec said to Jon and Jordan.

"I'm excited to meet her, I'm tired of looking at the same girls all the time. I could use a breath of fresh air," Jon said suggestively.

I rolled my eyes and went back to playing the game, hoping Jon would forget about Clary.

 **I'm not really sure if I like this chapter, but its whatevs. Have a great day/night/week!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey readers! I'm so so so sorry I haven't updated in a while I've been so busy! My basketball team won state so I was busy with all of our state stuff, and then my theatre group put on Grease a few months ago, so I was busy with that! Some of my best friends are leaving for college in a week so I've been spending a lot of time with them to squeeze in the last moments before they have to leave:( Anyway, enough about my life, thank you guys for all the feedback and comments! I love hearing what you guys have to stay! I will try to keep my word on updating more frequently this time! XOXO, SeriouslyShippers :) PS- I was listening to my insanely awesome writing playlist while writing this chapter and ugh it was so much fun. I highly recommend having a writing playlist and if you need one I can send you mine!**

 **Clary**

Mom, Luke, and I went to a pizza place for dinner because we didn't want to unload the entire kitchen tonight. We went to a little place downtown called Patty's Pizza Place. Walking inside was like going back in time, it looked like an old fashioned diner with the jukebox and the posters hanging everywhere. We sat in a booth by the window that faced the rest of the street. A waitress named Kaelie came and took our order after were done looking at the menu.

"So, Clary, what do you think of Jace and Alec?" my mom asked me as she took a sip of water.

"They're alright, I guess," I said as I looked around, "I don't really know them that well."

"Well, Robert and Maryse are just wonderful!" my mom gushed and she looked to Luke, encouraging him to agree with her.

"Yes, they seem like great people," Luke said as he looked back at my mom with a little smile.

"Alright, enough about that," I said, "let's talk about the fact that our house doesn't have any air conditioning right now."

"Oh honey, we'll fix that soon, you're just going to have to suffer a few nights in the heat," my mom said, as if she thought I could survive sleeping in the heat.

We made small talk about the town and talked about what little shops we wanted to visit. I wanted to go to Jenny's Joys which was a little art shop while my mom and Luke wanted to go the hardware store to pick up some paint and other things we would need around the house.

Our pizza came out a little late,r after we decided which shops we were going to go to. Being in the car the entire day makes you hungry, so we finished the pizza in no time, leaving no scraps behind. We paid the bill and headed out to the car. While we were inside the pizza place the sun had started to set and the cicadas were loud. Everything was tinted with the sunset which made downtown look beautiful.

 _This would be fun to paint_ , I thought to myself. We got in the car and drove to the hardware store which wasn't too far from Jenny's Joys, so I decided to just walk to Jenny's by myself.

"Clary, what color do you want for your room?" Luke asked before they walked into the hardware.

"Uh, anything but yellow," I said as I crossed the street.

Stoneybrooke was a cool place. As I walked down the street I noticed they had a lot of cool, little shops. There was a used bookstore, a bake shop, and few coffee shops lining both sides of the street. I was in my own little world as I was walking to the art shop when suddenly my phone started ringing. I grabbed it from my back pocket and saw that it was my best friend from back home, Simon.

"Hey Si!" I said as I answered the call.

"Hey Fray, how are you doing?" he asked. I heard noises in the background so I assumed he was playing video games while on the phone with me.

"I'm doing pretty good, we met our neighbors today," I said as I sat on a colorful bench outside of Jenny's shop.

"Do they seem cool?" Simon asked.

"There's one guy who seems nice, but the other one seems like a total asshole," I said and Simon laughed.

"You do tend to bring out the best in people," Simon joked.

"Haha, Simon you're so funny," I sarcastically said.

"Well, I just wanted to check up on you. I don't want to take up all your time on your first day, I'll call you tomorrow," Simon said as I stood up from the bench.

"Talk to you later Si, love you," I said as I walked into the shop.

I opened the front door and was blown away by the place. They had everything. Easels, paints, canvas, and anything else I could dream of was lining the walls and shelves. I must've looked shocked because a lady about my mom's age came up to me and chuckled.

"Hi, I'm Jenny," she said with a smile, "can I help you with anything?"

"Wow, you have an incredible store," I told her, my eyes still trying to take in everything.

"Thank you, I can tell you love art by the way you're looking at everything," Jenny said with a grin.

"I just moved here, so I'm checking everything out and I can definitely say I'll be here a lot," I said as we walked toward the back of the store.

I saw paintings and drawings in the back that I wanted to check out. I saw a really interesting painting of a mermaid swimming in the ocean but it was made of all material objects. The water was made of blue bubble wrap and the trees on the shore were made of real tree leaves.

"Wow, this is incredible!" I told her as I looked at it closer.

"Thanks! It took me a while to make," Jenny said as she walked behind the counter.

"You are an amazing artist," I told her as I walked around the store to check out her other paintings.

"You are too kind," she said as she hid behind her short, blonde hair.

I could tell she wasn't used to taking compliments which made me sad, because she was one of the best artists I had ever seen. I didn't end up buying anything, because I wanted to see organize what I already had. I walked out of the store after saying goodbye to Jenny, to find out it was now pitch black outside. There was a full moon, so the street was lit up. I was looking around when I saw someone coming out of the bookstore. He had light blonde hair, almost white. He looked back, almost as if he could sense me.

He gave me a little smile and waited as I caught up to him.

"You're the new girl, Clarissa, right?" he asked as he held out his hand.

"Uh, yeah, call me Clary," I said as I shook his hand.

"Sweet, I'm Sebastian," he said with a small smile.

Up close, I could see that his hair was like corn silk. It looked soft and I had the urge to run my fingers through it. He had dark brown eyes, which looked like pools of melted chocolate. He was very attractive, almost as attractive as Jace, but in a different way.

Things were getting a little awkward and I was about to say something but Sebastian opened his mouth first.

"I'm going to be a senior," he said as we walked up the street together.

"Oh, I'm going to be a junior," I said as we passed the bake shop.

"Wow, I can't believe I'm talking to a girl who is so young," he jokingly said.

"Whatever you say, old man," I fired back.

Sebastian chuckled as we crossed the street to the hardware store.

"Well, this is my stop," I said as we got to the hardware entrance.

"You're going into the hardware?" he questioned with an odd look on his face.

"Well, my mom and Luke are in there, so I'm just meeting back up with them," I explained.

Sebastian nodded and shyly held out his phone, "So, can I have your number?" he asked.

I smiled at him, "Sure, as long as you aren't a creepy stalker," I said as I plugged my number in his phone.

"No promises," he said as he chuckled and took his phone back, "I'll see you around, Clary."

He walked to his car as I walked into the hardware. My mom and Luke were just checking out so it was perfect timing.

"Who was that guy, Clary?" my mom said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, he was just someone I met," I told her as we loaded stuff into the car.

As I got into the car my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: "Hi Clary :)" it said.

I smiled as I looked down and responded. Maybe not all the guys here were assholes after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey everyone! I'm rewatching Fantastic Beasts with my mom so we can go to the theater to see Crimes of Grindelwald sometime soon! Hope you guys have been doing well and are excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas:)**

 **Clary**

I had been texting Sebastian that entire night. We didn't talk about anything real, but it still felt nice to have a new friend. He told me he was on the same football and baseball team as Jace and Alec. He didn't seem particularly fond of Jace, but I figured most people weren't.

I didn't sleep well that night and whenever I did fall asleep I would wake up sweating. I couldn't wait until we got air conditioning. I couldn't take too many more sleepless nights.

I finally woke up around eight the next morning. I trudged downstairs and got myself some Reece's Puffs for breakfast while turning on the TV. I was channel surfing when I stumbled upon my favorite show, Supernatural. It was an episode from one of the earlier seasons, so I plopped down on the couch with my cereal and watched TV.

My mom and Luke were still asleep as I finished slurping the milk from my cereal bowl. I decided to start unpacking my boxes and moving into my new room. I lugged all the boxes that had "Clary" written on them with permanent marker, into my room.

It usually took me awhile to unload things because I got distracted easily with the random things that I would find as I unpacked. I wasn't expecting to finish this task quickly, so I hooked up my new blue tooth speakers and started playing my favorite playlist.

The first thing I did was unload my books. I loved to read so over the years I had acquired quite the collection of books. The house came with some furniture and my room luckily had a big bookshelf already built into the wall. I delicately got my books out of the boxes and organized them on my new shelves.

By the time I was done with that, my mom and Luke had woken up. They came into my room wearing old clothes and carrying painting supplies.

"Are we painting my room already?" I asked as they scattered their supplies over my floor.

"Well, we're just trying to get things done as soon as possible," Luke explained as he started opening the paint can.

I didn't even know what color paint they picked out until Luke carefully put the paint lid on the ground.

It was light green. Not like a lime green or a dark forest green, but a calming leaf green. It was absolutely perfect.

"Luke, I love it!" I exclaimed as I reached for a brush.

"We figured you would," my mom said with a small smile.

We spent the morning painting my room and laughing at dumb jokes Luke told.

We took a break for lunch and my mom made BLT's for us. Right in the middle of my first bite, the doorbell rang. I hopped up from the stool and opened the screen door to see a beautiful girl with black hair that seemed to go on forever standing on the front porch.

"Hi, I'm Isabelle!" she said after I opened the door.

I shook her outstretched hand, "I'm Clary, it's nice to meet you!"

By that time Luke and my mom had emerged at the door to meet Isabelle, too. They introduced themselves and there was an awkward silence to follow.

"So, I just wanted to invite you to the beach tonight. Every Sunday night our friends have a bonfire on the beach and just chill out. You should come and meet everyone if you're free," Isabelle said a little timidly.

"Clary, that sounds wonderful!" my mom exclaimed as she squeezed my shoulders.

I gave Isabelle a small smile, "That would be great, thank you so much."

"I'll see you tonight!" she said, and then walked back to her house.

I closed the door and took a deep breath. I would meet everyone tonight. I was scared to meet so many people at once. I wasn't very popular in my old city, but maybe this would be a new opportunity to meet people.

I was trying to be optimistic about making new friends, but it never came easily to me. I knew Isabelle would be there but I didn't want to follow her around like a lost puppy all night. I got my phone out and saw a few messages from Sebastian. Maybe he would be at the party tonight.

 **Me: are you going to be at the beach party tonight? Isabelle Lightwood invited me.**

 **Sebastian: sometimes i go, sometimes i don't. i guess it depends if you're going?**

 **Me: i was planning on it, ya know to meet more people.**

 **Sebastian: well i guess i'll be there too;)**

I smiled down at my phone as I answered Sebastian and finished my BLT. Tonight was going to be interesting.

 **Next chapter will be the bonfire! Sorry this chapter was short and kind of dull but I had to lead up to the bonfire!**

 **xoxoxo**

 **SeriouslyShippers**


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